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Just
Be Indulgent...
By Kathleen Daelemans
The
List
One of my favorite parts of traveling is not the layovers
or the pretzels they no longer serve in coach, it’s
the neat little shops I sneak into in between appointments.
Sometimes I discover stuff so cool or elegant or funny or
delicious I want to stand on the roof of the tallest building
and tell the whole wide world like the time I got a
Coach purse at Filene’s basement for twenty bucks.
Twenty bucks!
Ta-Ze 100% Olive Oil Soap with Sage and Loofah
I was in Chicago last weekend on my way to Nordstrom's to
get a pair of "comfortable" shoes to give my ailing,
blistered dogs a well-deserved break from the senseless
shoes I have no business wearing at my age. "You might
as well make an appointment with your podiatrist now,
Kathleen", my Mother reminded me every five seconds
until I purchased a pair of shoes so ugly even the Golden
Girls would have nothing to do with them. Especially
Blanche Devereaux.
On my way back out to the Magnificent Mile to do some more
damage to my already bloated credit card, a store window
featuring a beautiful farm table displaying rows and rows
of striking bottles of vinegar and olive oil caught my eye.
I had to go in.
I walked straight up to a table piled high with hand soaps
and lotions, one of my favorite indulgences. After sampling
everything offered, I settled on a bar of Ta-ze’s
(pronounced tah-zay meaning "fresh" in Turkish)
signature soap, 100%
Olive Oil Soap with Sage and Loofah.
The individual soufflé size, cylindrical "bar"
of soap smells of mint and sage. It comes in a dark green
olive colored baby size hatbox with a see through top. The
soap is Crème Brule white with bits of loofah whipped
in. The handmade soap is made of 100% olive oil, the essential
oil of sage, loofah and aqua (charmingly written out on
the label).
Ten dollars bought me a scrumptious bar of luxurious soap
that will soothe and heal like an 8-ounce bag of Garret’s
popcorn never could. Okay, well I’m a huge fan of Chicago’s
caramel corn shops polka dotted on every corner in the city.
But my jeans are not. A decadent (non food) splurge at Ta-ze
was just the thing to keep my hands out of the caramel corn.
Ta-ze’s
products will pop up quite frequently in this column because
I came home with 8 items in all. As I learn about each one
of them, I’ll fill you in. On the list: Extra Virgin
Olive Oil, Pomegranate Glaze, Green Olive Paste, Artichoke
and Garlic Cream (a saucy dip) and Basil Pesto which I can
tell you now is absolutely out-of-this world delicious.
But you’ll have to pick up the phone to order it because
it’s so new to their inventory, it’s not yet available
on the web site:
(312)
527-2576
(877) CHI-TAZE
10am–8pm
Monday–Saturday (CST)
11am–6pm
Sunday (CST).
The
shop is located at 520 North Michigan Avenue Chicago,
IL USA 60611
Botanical Interests
I’m not a great gardener but there’s nothing I
love more than being in my garden when I’m supposed
to be working. My Mom and I go to the garden store on particularly
gloomy days. My best friend died a few weeks ago and we
were moping about so we went to our favorite nursery. My
grandmother taught me that the seeds you plant on the darkest
days always bloom first.
I had great luck with three out of four of these seeds last
year so I’m sticking with them. I’m trying beets
this year because the seed packet is beautiful, "Never
mind beautiful, Kathleen, when was the last time you ate
a vegetable?"
My littlest niece loves playing in the garden. We always
plant seeds together in the spring. Last year she loved
watching the butternut squash grow Jack-in-the-bean-stalk
crazy and take over half the back yard. The leaves get huge
and the plant sends out gigantic tendrils 20 feet long (or
so they seemed). She loves looking under the elephant ear
size leaves to find the squashes in various stages of growth.
The Scarlett Runner Beans produce extraordinary flowers
and are perfect to hide a fence in need of painting. Morning
glories are too. Every year my Morning Glories are the envy
of the free world. Okay, so that’s a lie but my brother’s
never branch out and cascade as lovely as mine. I love,
love, love making him jealous. Payback for torturing
my when we were young. You can get all of these seeds and
more at Botanical
Interests.com for under two bucks!
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Bean
Pole Scarlet Runner
Phaseolus coccineus
Large sprays of brilliant rich, red flowers. Flavorful,
sweet bean pods. |
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Squash
Winter Butternut Waltham
Cucurbita pepo
All America Winner. Long storage, tasty, nutty flavor.
High yields. |
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Beet
Gourmet Blend
Beta vulgaris
Old-fashioned beets in a rainbow of jewel toned colors. |
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Morning
Glory Split Personality
Ipomoea purpurea
Annual. Blooms summer to fall. 7' vine. Full sun. 2"
magenta pink blooms with white eyes. A delicately split
flower that opens in the cool of morning. Excellent
color for covering a trellis or fence. Can also be grown
in pots, baskets, or as a ground cover. |
 Everyone’s
Pretty in Pink!
I had no idea Laura
Mercier’s Lip Glace was one of Robin’s (Dr.
Phil’s wife) favorite things when I set out to tell
you about this lip gloss or I would have nixed if from the
list.
Nevertheless, when I went to LauraMercier.com
and low and behold discovered her love of the product too,
I decided who cares. I’m not "copying" as
my ten year old niece would say. I've used the product for
several years and am a huge fan too. There’s nothing
like new lip color to cheer you up and deck you out.
Fat Free Frying
Gotcha! There’s no such thing that I know of anyway.
I did a job recently that required me to use my own nonstick
fry pans. Somehow they got left at the job site. Naturally,
I didn't discover this until I went to cook dinner for friends.
I reached for my ten-inch nonstick fry pan. Gone. I went
hunting for my 12-inch nonstick fry pan. Gone. Everyone
was hungry and I was fresh out of fry pans.
I pondered over weather to use a one-quart sauce-pot, a
crock pot, a blender (kidding) or my soup pot to "fry"
the shrimp. I chose the soup pot and merrily cooked and
chatted with my friends as though it’s perfectly normal
to make shrimp scampi in a soup pot. I don’t recommend
this method of preparation unless you’re craving steamed-fried
shrimp. My friends are very polite and pretended not to
notice.
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Nonstick
Belgique Fry Pan
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The
very next day, I went in search of the perfect nonstick
pan. A scratch-proof pan that wouldn't wear out and release
toxins into my food and poison my friends and family before
dessert. I wanted a pan with an excellent nonstick coating,
a heavy bottom to create a steady even heat and one with
an easy grip handle. Demanding, I know.
After searching enough to make my head spin, I plunked down
$35 bucks for an 11-inch nonstick Belgique fry pan with
a copper bottom. I've been using it nonstop for the past
month. I love the way it performs and I really like how
for the money, I got an extra inch of fry pan. Fry pans
are usually sized at 8,10 and 12 inches. Belgique, available
at Macy's stores nationwide and online
at macys.com, is sold in sets and open stock. The cookware
is priced at $300.00 for a 14-piece set and $200.00 for
a 10-piece set. Open stock items range between $25.00 and
$80.00.
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